UK puts ‘freeze’ on bringing families from Afghanistan to Britain, court hears
The High Court heard the evacuation of families stranded in Afghanistan who were approved for asylum in Britain was halted despite the defense secretary’s promise that Britain would honor its debt to them.
Afghans who have been deemed fit to move to the UK because their previous work with the British are no longer helping them escape the Taliban-ruled country, according to lawyers and caseworkers supporting those stuck in limbo.
The allegations emerged in a case involving two Afghans who were approved to relocate to the UK and were named FRY and BNM1 to protect their safety. They are challenging the Ministry of Defense (MoD) over delays in their release.
At a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday, plaintiff FRY’s barrister Tim Owen KC told the judge “it appears that deportations from Afghanistan have been frozen.”
He said plaintiffs were “facing a complete information black hole”, with most legal proceedings taking place secretly without the plaintiff’s legal teams being present.
Mr Owen noted a statement this week from Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard that the Ministry of Defense was committed to providing support and relocation to eligible Afghans in third countries such as Pakistan, but not from Afghanistan.
Resettlement plans for Afghans to come to the UK following the Taliban takeover were abruptly shut down in July last year, just before a judge lifted an unprecedented Ministry of Defense injunction used to conceal a serious data breach affecting thousands of people applying for Afghan resettlement programmes.
In a statement to parliament after news of the data breach emerged, Defense Secretary John Healey pledged to honor invitations already made to “any persons still in Afghanistan and their immediate families”, adding: “When this nation makes a promise, we must keep that promise.”
“I will then reiterate our commitment to process every outstanding Arab (Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy) application and resettle those deemed eligible,” he told MPs.
BNM1 lawyer David Sellwood told the court his client submitted his application for the Arab resettlement program in November 2021, was approved for relocation in August 2024, subject to security checks, and was subsequently approved for relocation in July last year.
However, the Afghan citizen is still in limbo in Afghanistan and has not been evacuated. He wants his case to be joined with FRY’s case so that they can be heard together at the joint hearing to be held in June.
Independent Last month it emerged that thousands of Afghans potentially at risk after their data was leaked by the Ministry of Defense were still waiting to be taken to safety in the UK more than six months after the scandal.
Nearly 400 people who supported British efforts in Afghanistan and whose personal information was later breached by the UK government are “trapped” in Afghanistan and neighboring countries and scrambling to get out. About 1,900 of his family members also remained in limbo.
Campaigners said the latest figures for December 2025, obtained through freedom of information requests, showed evictions in the UK were “running too slowly with people’s lives under threat”.
Personal information and contact details of approximately 18,700 people applying for the government’s Afghan resettlement plans were leaked in 2022 due to a Department of Defense error; this was only discovered in the summer of 2023 after part of a spreadsheet was shared on social media.
The discovery of the bug led to one of the most extraordinary secret government operations in modern history amid fears that up to 100,000 lives were at risk. An unprecedented gag order was used to cover up the breach; affected families only discovered the danger they were potentially put into when the injunction was lifted in July last year.
MoD has been contacted for comment.
